The present invention relates to an electrically operated machine for preparing hot beverages, comprising a water tank that can be filled with water and a brewing unit into which an ingredient such as ground coffee or tea leaves can be introduced, wherein the water is heated in an electric water heater and supplied to the brewing unit for extraction, and the beverage extracted flows into a container.
In an electric machine for preparing hot beverages which is operated as a coffee machine, it is prior disclosed to place a paper filter into the filter basket member and to then fill it with an ingredient, preferably coffee. To indicate to a user which amount of ingredients is required depending on the number of cups, indicia in the form of lines or circles have been marked in the interior of the paper filter. Thus, when a user chooses five cups of water, for example, he/she will fill the corresponding amount of water into the water tank. Subsequently, the user fills so great an amount of ingredients into the paper filter until the ingredient covers the fifth mark or just about ends flush with it.
Marks of this type which are provided on the paper filter represent a dosing aid to a user, but they are relatively inexact, especially because paper filters generally taper downwards in a V-type configuration and are often crushed so much that their receiving volume is comparatively inexact.
Further, the fact that it is necessary to shake the amount of coffee introduced into the brewing unit until it is positioned substantially horizontally to the marks is complicated and difficult to handle. If the shaking action is omitted, an exact dosing process is not possible.
It is further disclosed in the art in a machine for preparing hot beverages to apply two scales side by side on the outside wall of the water tank, one of the scales indicating the amount of water by showing the number of cups and the second scale indicating the amount of ground coffee by showing the number of scoops required. Thus, when an amount of water has been introduced into the tank, the scale shows the water level for the number of cups desired and, simultaneously, the adjacent scale for the amount of ground coffee indicates the number of scoops of ground coffee needed for this amount of water. However, only average values can be achieved by a dosing aid of this type which do not allow accurately determining the strength of a brew that is individually desired by a user.
In spite of this simplified dosing aid, a user is initially required to read the correct number of measuring scoops for the quantity of brew desired, to then count them when ground coffee in filled in and pay attention that the measuring scoops are always filled to an almost equal extent in order to obtain a hot beverage of equal taste. This process is comparatively complicated and necessitates great attention by a user.
In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a machine for preparing hot beverages which provides greater ease to a user in dosing the ingredients and water and which, irrespective of the number of cups, permits making coffee which may always be reproduced with the same quality, and with the ratio of the amount of ingredients and water in dependence on the strength of brew desired being always correct. Another objective is to render the machine for preparing hot beverages as inexpensive as possible and especially economical in the consumption of the amount of ingredients required.